Ānanda's Verse on Transmitting the Dharma

Original text: 本来付有法，付了言无法；各个需自悟，悟了无无法。

Explanation: What all the Buddhas and patriarchs of successive generations have transmitted to their disciples is the dharma of true suchness (tathatā). Although this dharma of true suchness is without marks, it truly exists—its marks are empty while its essence is real. Although the disciples all obtained the dharma and awakened to the Way, in reality there is nothing attained; no dharma whatsoever is obtained. True suchness is originally one's own family treasure, not obtained from outside—it is merely a matter of discovery. After discovering it, one then knows that the five aggregates of the world do not contain a single existing dharma; all are manifestations of true suchness. The mind will also gradually cease to cling to the dharma of true suchness—He is everything, yet He is nothing at all. He is both precious and worth not a penny; even given away for free, no one wants Him. Sentient beings of great mind must each strive diligently, cultivating and awakening on their own. After awakening, they will know that within and beyond the world it is not that there is no dharma at all and everything is illusory—there is still one dharma that is not illusory, which truly exists. In this way one can be at ease, knowing it is not annihilatory emptiness/nihilistic emptiness (uccheda-śūnyatā).